Colorado marijuana stores likely to be concentrated in few cities

When first-of-their-kind stores selling recreational marijuana are allowed to open in January, they look increasingly likely to be confined to only a handful of communities in the state. Dozens of Colorado cities and counties have in recent weeks voted to ban the stores — and their sibling cultivation and marijuana-infused products businesses.

That leaves only about 20 cities and counties likely to start accepting applications for recreational marijuana stores later this year and to allow the stores to open as early as Jan. 1, according to advocates. Of the 10 largest cities in Colorado, only Denver looks likely to initially allow pot shops.

Elected officials in at least 56 Colorado cities and counties have so far voted to ban the businesses. A number of those are small towns in rural areas — Del Norte, for instance, or Log Lane Village. But the list also includes some of the largest cities in the state. Thornton, Westminster, Centennial and Greeley have all barred the stores.

Colorado Springs, the second-largest city in the state, joined the group this week, when its City Council voted 5-4 to keep recreational pot shops out of the city. Council members opposed to the stores said they worried the shops would hurt existing businesses and cause the military to pull troops from Fort Carson.

"For us to move forward with this is not a responsible move from an economic development point of view," Councilman Merv Bennett said at a meeting this week.

In addition to the bans, officials in at least 24 cities and counties have imposed moratoriums on recreational marijuana stores that mean the shops won't be able to open by the first of the year, the earliest that recreational marijuana stores can open anywhere in the state. Advocates are optimistic that cities with moratoriums, including Aurora, Lakewood and Arvada, will eventually allow the stores.

"I think the four corners of the state will be fairly well covered, with the possible exception of the Eastern Plains," said Brian Vicente, one of the authors of Amendment 64, the measure that legalized recreational marijuana and allowed for it to be sold in specially licensed stores.

The expected patchwork is not particularly a surprise. Amendment 64 explicitly gave local governments the ability to ban retail stores.

"The difficult part of this is determining in each local community what is appropriate," said Kevin Bommer, the deputy director of the Colorado Municipal League. "It will be different in each community."

In that way, it is similar to the state's law on medical-marijuana dispensaries and the resultant clustering of dispensaries mostly in a handful of cities. As Vicente notes, most of the places that banned medical-marijuana dispensaries have also banned recreational marijuana shops. (Vicente calls Colorado Springs, which allows medical-marijuana dispensaries and has more than any city except Denver, "an anomaly.")

The list of cities expected to allow recreational marijuana stores features a number of resort communities, including Breckenridge, Telluride and Steamboat Springs. But the bans mostly mean the recreational marijuana industry, like the medical-marijuana industry, looks to be especially Denver-centric.

That has given Denver Mayor Michael Hancock some concern, said Rowena Alegria, a spokeswoman for Hancock.

"With so many cities opting out, we have an even greater responsibility to ensure enforcement, regulation and education around those new laws," Alegria said.

Other officials see the bans as an opportunity.

Officials in Pueblo County are enthusiastically working to forge rules for recreational-marijuana businesses, said county Commissioner Sal Pace. He said politicians have a duty to follow the will of the voters, and Pueblo voters supported marijuana legalization.

But Pace also said the county sees pot shops as a source of economic development and tax revenue — even more so as surrounding areas ban the shops.

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